Margaret Beaufort. Lady Margaret Beaufort was the mother of King Henry VII and paternal grandmother of King Henry VIII of England.
   Several portraits of Lady Margaret Beaufort survive from the Tudor period. One of the most famous is the Beaufort Portrait, which shows her wearing a black gown and a white veil, with a book in her hands.
   This portrait is believed to have been painted around 1500, when Lady Margaret was in her late sixties. Another portrait, known as the "Muniment Room Portrait," shows her in a similar pose, but with a more elaborate headdress.
   She was a patron of architecture, and she commissioned several buildings during her lifetime. One of the most famous is St John's College, Cambridge, which she founded in 1511.
   The college's chapel features a large stained-glass window that depicts Lady Margaret kneeling in prayer before the Virgin Mary and Child. Several sculptures of Lady Margaret Beaufort were created after her death. One of the most famous is the tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey, which shows her lying on a funeral bier, with her hands clasped in prayer. The effigy is made of alabaster and is decorated with intricate carvings and gilding. She was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses and an influential matriarch of the House of Tudor. She is credited with the establishment of two prominent Cambridge colleges, founding Christ's College in 1505 and beginning the development of
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